Saints and Sinners
by Neflame
Summary: Three months have past since Fox defeated Andross on Venom. After reciveing a call to gaurd a factory on Macbeth, the team discovers that its only the surface. COMPLETE
1. A New Mission

A/N: First off, the disclaimer: I do not own Starfox. However, I do own this story and the events and characters of my creation. To be safe, consider this story on the border of PG-13 and R. Any-who, enjoy!.

SAINTS AND SINNERS

A New Mission

The Great Fox slowly flew through space. The crew of the ship were all collected on the bridge hoping to receive a call for a job. The image of a canine in an army attire appeared on a screen. A young vulpine named Fox McCloud looked up to see it and said to his team mates, "Look alive guys. Pepper's calling."

"Pepper here," the image said. "I have a new mission for you."

"We're all ears general," a young avian named Falco Lombardi said to the image.

"I want you to head to Macbeth. There have been raids on three factories in the last few days," Pepper said.

"Can't your guys do anything?" asked an aging rabbit named Peppy Hare.

"We tried," Pepper said. "The raiders were able to get by the special forces troops we stationed at the third one."

A frog named Slippy Toad spoke up, "And you want us to guard the third one, is that it?"

"Yes," Pepper said. "You will be well paid on completion. I don't want these raiders taking any more parts"

"Sounds fair," Fox said. "We'll do it."

"Good. Pepper out."

The image of General H. Pepper vanished as the Great Fox's robot pilot, ROB64, input their destination and the ship sped off.

Several light years away, a small fighter drifted through the blackness of space, its pilot sleeping. Pepper's image appeared on a small screen. "Vize? Wake up!" Pepper yelled.

"What! Who?" Vize said, waking with a start. "Hello general. What can this humble merc do for you?" Vize asked.

"I want you to investigate an illegal arms deal on Macbeth."

"That all?"

"Before you give an answer, hear my offer."

"I'm listenin"

"Not only will I pay you, but you can take a weapon of your choice from the batch you secure."

Vize stared and said, "In that case, I'll do it."

"Thank you. Pepper out."

After the general ended the transmission, Vize fired up his ship's engines and headed for Macbeth.


	2. Meetings

Meetings

The Great Fox arrived at Macbeth three days after the conversation with Pepper. Once the ship touched down, several Cornerian soldiers greeted them. "Ah. Your finally here," a grizzled sergeant said. "My name is Johnson. I'm the C.O. here."

"Nice to meet you," Fox said.

"Follow me to the factory."

Fox and co. followed sergeant Johnson to a large ominous looking factory. Falco looked for a moment then said, "Very inviting." Once inside, Johnson showed Fox and the others where he had stationed the snipers and other such firepower.

Almost all the way across town, Vize Shadowstrike was headed to a bar where he hoped to get some info on the arms deal. He was wearing a black trench coat and hat. Underneath he had concealed a long-range blaster with scope. As he sat at the bar, he overheard a few guys talking. "So its all set?" a wolf asked.

"Yep," replied a ferret. "Behind the abandoned factory."

"The abandoned factory, eh?" Vize said quietly.

He followed the group to the meeting place, making sure to stay in the shadows. He jumped on top of the low factory to watch. The wolf, ferret, and tiger he had seen in the bar met with an iguana, a panther, and a jackal. "Well?" the impatient wolf asked.

"All here," the jackal said as he opened a large box.

Vize then stood a made his presence known. "What have we here?" he asked loudly, jumping down to face the criminals. "Who are you?" the iguana asked.

"Someone," replied Vize, drawing the scoped blaster.

"What the fuck is this!" the wolf shouted.

The tiger noticed the symbol on the gun. "A fucking merc! We're gonna die!"

"Wait wait wait," the jackal said. "We have weapons too, morons."

The others drew their weapons and aimed at Vize. Before they fired, Vize jumped aside and two of the arms dealers shot each other, spraying blood on the walls and ground. Vize leveled the scope, aimed and fired. The ferret's head was blasted open. Vize killed two others with a single shot. The last dealer, the jackal, ran down the ally, firing a shots over his shoulder. Vize calmly aimed through the scope and fired a high powered shot, blasting a hole through the jackal's chest. "Bull's eye," Vize said.

A small number of Cornerian military forces arrived while Vize was looking through the weapons from the deal. "A little late aren't ya?" Vize asked.

"Traffic," the captain said.

Vize took a special assault rifle from the batch. "Nice. Not only does it fire larger than normal rounds, but it fires special mines." Vize left the scene with the gun in a box.

Fox was sitting in a chair in the factory office, his feet propped up on the desk when Falco came in. "Fox! The raider's ship has been spotted!"

Fox jumped up. "Everyone in position?"

"Yea. We should get ready too."

Fox and Falco ran out of the office and got into their hiding places to wait for the raiders.


	3. Fight In The Factory

FIGHT IN THE FACTORY

A large explosion blew a hole in one of the factory walls. A squirrel walked through followed by a large number of other animals. "Well, they aren't even trying this time," a hyena said as he searched a large box.

"Don't be so sure," the squirrel said. "They are tricky bastards."

At that moment the hyena was shot by a sniper and the rest of the guard force attacked. Fox took out three with a single burt of his assault rifle then ducked to avoid a grenade. The factory was soon filled with laser fire. The noise had attracted Vize to the source and he looked through one of the upper windows. Vize, unable to walk away from the action, kicked through the window and knocked a raider off the ledge. He drew his scoped blaster and started picking off enemies. Fox looked up at the upper level and saw Vize. After working out that he wasn't a raider, Fox returned to the fray. Vize jumped down and blasted a wolf's head in. He then holstered the blaster and drew a sword and ran to the battle. Falco had taken a pair of semi automatic pistols and was killing raiders at least five at a time. Vize was easily killing off raiders with his sword. He easily decapitated two ferrets that were standing back to back. The squirrel realized that the factory was a lost cause and pulled his force out. Shouts of success came from the guard force. A few minutes after the battle, Johnson and Fox walked up to Vize. "Your the one that showed up and helped right?" Johnson asked.

"Yeah. Thats right." Vize said.

"Impressive work," Fox said. "What's your name?"

"Vize Shadowstrike,"

"Your a mercenary?" Johnson asked.

"Yeah. General Pepper hired me to bust an illegal arms deal. I was done and couldn't resist joining in."

"Well, we're thankful for your help," Johnson said.

"It was no problem," Vize said, cleaning the blood off his sword.

"Well, I should report our success to Pepper," Johnson said.

Vize sheathed his sword and started helping with the clean up as Johnson went to the communications room. The clean up took longer than anticipated since there were so many boxes scattered around and the hole had to be fixed. After the clean up, Johnson, Vize, Fox, and Falco were in the communications room talking to Pepper. "So you were able to protect the factory?" Pepper asked.

"Yes sir," Johnson said.

"And I'm guessing that you would've showed up weather we were winning or losing." Pepper said to Vize.

"Thats right sir."

"Well, now I want you to track the raiders," Pepper said.

"Can do sir. A tracker was placed on one of the raiders as he escaped," Johnson said.

"Good. Get on it. Pepper out."

After the image of Pepper vanished, Johnson switched to the tracking device. He found that the raiders hideout was old supply depot. He alerted the others and after they got their gear ready, the Cornerian force spread out and headed for the supply depot. The force got in and Johnson found the tracker attached to a crate. "Dammit! They got away," Johnson said.

"I think I know where they're headed," Falco said.

"Where?" Fox asked.

"I found a computer file that gave the location of a space station in Sector X," Falco said.

"All right then. Fox, I'll let your team take it up from here," Johnson said.

"Okay. Hey Vize, I got a question for you," Fox said.

"I'm listenin," Vize said

"After seein you fight in the factory, Falco and I were wondering if you wanted to help us with the rest of the mission. Do you?" Fox asked.

After Vize agreed to help, he, Fox, and Falco headed to the Great Fox. After the ships were docked, Vize followed them to the bridge. "Peppy, Slippy, I wanna introduce our temporary member, Vize," Fox said to the others.

"Nice to meet you," Peppy said.

"Same here," said Slippy.

"How long are you going to be with us?" Peppy asked.

"Until you guys complete your current mission," Vize said.

With that, the Great Fox was set on course for Sector X and hopefully, the end of the job.


	4. X Station

A/N: Okay, this chapter will hopefully unveil the mystery of the story title. As always, drop a review and enjoy.

X STATION

Everyone on the Great Fox was in the bridge doing their respective jobs. Fox suddenly turned to Vize and said, "Hey Vize, we haven't seen you in a good light yet. I think we all wanna see what you look like."

"Yeah. That I can do," Vize said, standing up, taking off his hat a coat.

"Whoa..." Fox and Falco said.

Vize looked almost human. The main difference was that his skin was jet black and at some parts, smoothly changed to silver. Stripes of green and red ran down and around several parts of his body. His eyes were reddish green.

"I'm a Vezier," Vize said to the others.

"A Vezier? Your from Arion?" Peppy asked.

"Yeah. I'm surprised you've heard of it. Since its close to the outer ring, not many know of it," Vize said, sitting back down.

With that out of the way, Vize, Fox, and Falco went to the armory to get the weapons they would need.

The Great Fox stopped near the station three hours later. Two Arwings and a red fighter docked with the station. Before Fox, Falco, and Vize entered the station, Slippy scanned the station and found that it was fully operational and the air was breathable. The three slowly made their way to into the station. Fox turned to the other two and said, "Remember, be careful. These guys are good. Stay on guard."

"Look there," Falco said, pointing ahead and up slightly.

"What is it?" Fox asked.

"I see it," Vize said. "Its a security camera."

"Can you hit it?" Falco asked.

"No problem," Vzie said, drawing his scoped blaster.

Vize aimed the blaster and fired. The camera was destroyed in shower of sparks and a brief flame. The trio continued on, destroying cameras that were directly in their path. After about thirty minutes, they reached the main communications and security room. Fox and Falco stood on either side of the door and Vize stood in front. Vize looked at the other two, "Ready?" he asked.

"Yeah," Fox and Falco said.

Vize knocked on the door and said, "Hey! We got an emergency out here!"

"What the hell?" a voice from inside said.

A weasel opened the door, "What? What do you want?"

"Access," Vize said, holding his blaster up to the weasel's head.

The weasel stood there, terrified until Fox bashed him in the back of the head with a shotgun. Falco dragged the body inside and closed the door. Fox went to a panel with many monitors and began scanning them. Vize took to deactivating the security systems that would later pose a problem to them. While those two were doing that, Falco was looking through the weapons for ammo and anything else. He tossed Fox and Vized each a knife and took one for himself. Fox walked over to Vize, "How's it goin?" Fox asked.

"This is fuckin pathetic. I got this," Vize said.

"How much longer?" Falco asked.

"Done!" Vize said.

After about three minuets of debate, they decided to lock the system so the guard couldn't fix it when he woke up. The trio soon came to a large, two leveled, circular room. "Well. Look who's finally arrived." a voice said.

"Where'd that come from?" Fox asked.

"Up here," the same voice said and the squirrel from the factory stepped out of the shadows on the second level.

"Priest!" Vize shouted. "Your leading the raiders?"

"You know this guy?" Fox asked Vize.

"Yeah. His name's Priest. He's a preacher."

"A preacher?" Falco asked.

"Pretty much a saint!"

Priest laughed, "I had almost forgotten you, Vize."

"Now look at him," Vize said. "A saint thats become a sinner!"

"Now now now. Is there any difference between the two? Is there really?"

"Huh?" The three of them said.

"Think about it. Sometimes doing the Lord's will forces us to do sinful things."

"That makes absolutely no sense at all," Vize said.

"You'll understand eventually," Priest said, as guards came in and surrounded the trio.

"Fuck," Falco said.

"Have fun," Priest said as he left.

The trio stood still for several minutes and then acted. Falco jumped straight up, kicking two guards in the head before stabbing another. Fox leapt through a small gap, drawing his shotgun and fired, blasting two guards into several others. Vize drew his sword and slashed through several guards. The three then stood back to back, blasting away at the rest of the guards. After the fight was over, the floor was almost entirely covered in blood. Falco looked at the other two, "Do you think we overdid it?"

"No." Fox and Vize said.

They made their way to the main control room and started scanning monitors. "Oh shit," Falco said.

"What?" Fox asked.

"He planted a twenty megaton bomb in the base's core!"

"SHIT!" Vize shouted.

"Lets get outta here! Now!" Fox shouted.

The three of them ran through the base to the docking area. They entered their ships and took off, flying past the Great Fox. Fox opened a com link to Peppy. "Peppy! Get the ship far away from the station!"

"Why?" Peppy asked.

"The raider leader planted a twenty megaton bomb in the station's core!"

The Great Fox quickly followed the three ships as the station exploded. Once the ships were back in the hanger, Fox, Falco, and Vize explained what happened. "Where you able to track the ships that left the station?" Fox asked peppy.

"Yea. They headed for Fortuna."

"Great." Falco said.

"Is Fortuna the planet with the Cornerian base on it?" Vize asked.

"Yea. And its really fucking cold." Fox said. "The surface is snowy all year."

"Crap"

A few minutes later, the Great Fox was well on its way to Fortuna.


	5. Ice Planet and Dessert Arrival

ICE WORLD AND DESSERT ARRIVAL

"I can already tell that this is gonna suck," Vize said, as he walked down the hall to the hanger. He and Fox had been chosen to go down to Fortuna's surface since they were they were the one's with the best cold tolerance. Fox and Vize reached the hanger and prepped their ships. A few minutes later, two ships landed on Fortuna. "Holy shit its cold!" Vize shouted, jumping out of his ship.

"What did ya expect? Its a planet covered in snow. Its fuckin cold," Fox said.

The two of them began to follow the map to the base, the thick snow made the trip much longer. "This is ridiculous," Fox said as he trudged through the blizzard.

"What?" Vize shouted.

Fox ignored him as they reached the base. Once they entered, the two found it quite deserted. They walked through the hallways and still saw no one. Once they reached the control room and found the bodies of the raiders that were here. "What the hell happened here?" Fox asked. Vize walked over to the control pannel and found a recorded message. He activated it and the image of Priest appeared. "I was hoping that you would follow us here," the image said. "But as you can see, your too late. We met some Cornerians here and had to escape. The bodies you found were those that were killed when we were ambushed. At this point, the base should be locking down. And the bomb should activate. Goodbye fools." the image of Priest vanished as the based locked down.

"Uh oh," Vize said as he saw a message that a bomb had been activated.

"Crap. Thats the same bomb from the war." Fox said, flipping on his communicator. "Guys, we have a small problem."

"What's the problem?" Peppy asked.

"You want the long version or the short?" Vize asked.

"Basically, everyone here is dead and now a bomb is about to detonate." Fox said.

"What's the long version?" Peppy asked.

"That was the long version," Vize said. "The short version is; we're screwed."

"Got it," Slippy said. "Falco will be there shortly."

"Good," Fox and Vize said.

A few minutes later, a hole was blasted in the wall of the control room. "You called?" Falco said.

"Nice timing," Fox said.

Fox and Vize ran back to their ships and took off as the bomb detonated. Once they were back aboard the Great Fox, Peppy called them over, "I found something."

"What have you found?" Fox asked.

"The computer started picking up an odd signal coming from Titania."

"What kind of signal?" Vize asked.

"It looks like one of Johnson's men put a tracking device on one of the larger parts. The signal wasn't picked up earlier because it was probably in container."

"Well, thats the best lead we have so far. Rob, set a course for Titania." Fox said

"Understood" Rob said.

Several hours later everyone was leaving the dining room to pursue their usual activities. Vize caught up with Peppy in the hall and fell in step next to him. "Peppy, there's something thats been bugging me lately." Vize said

"What would that be?" Peppy asked

"Well, when I was browsing the cameras in the Sector X station I saw something odd."

"Go on."

"It was a cracked and empty tank. A terminal next to it read 'Experimental Assimilating Robotic Parasites.'"

"I'll look into it." Peppy said as Vize hurried down the hall. "'Experimental Assimilating Robotic Parasites. Could it be the same thing...?"

Half an hour later Fox found Vize in the hanger trying to move a large box over to his ship. "I could use some help." Vize called. Fox walked down to where Vize was. "Ready?" Fox asked.

"One."

"Two."

"Three!" They both said.

In five minutes the box was moved. "What's the box for?" Fox panted. Vize got under his ship and started working. "I need it to put parts in." Vize said. "The Fortuna explosion threw a large chunk of metal hit my ship. I'm checking the damage. Crap. It hit an engine part."

"Can't Slip do this?" Fox asked

"Lets find out." Slippy said, walking over and getting under Vize's ship. "Nope. I can't help." said Slippy, crawling out.

"I'll have this done before we reach Titania." Vize said.

With that, Slippy and Fox left the hanger. A few minutes later, Falco quietly walked up to Vize's ship, "Hey!" He shouted, banging his fist on the ship. "OWWW!" Vize yelled. He had smashed his head on the bottom of his ship. When Vize came out from under his ship, Falco was laughing his head off. "Why the fuck did you do that?" Vize angrily asked

"Sorry. I couldn't resist." Falco said.

"Well, could you not do it again? I don't want to- holy shit, bird santa!" Vize said.

"Huh?" Falco asked turning his head.

Vize whacked Falco right in the groin with a wrench. "Right there."

Falco gasped several times on the floor before pulling himself up. "That was a dirty trick."

"I know." Vize said

Falco then left the hanger, one hand still over his nuts. Vize continued to fix his ship for several more hours before finishing. After washing up, he headed for the den, where he found everyone sitting in the chairs. "Have you seen Falco?" Fox asked. "He hasn't come out of his room for a while."

"Oh, I hit him in the nuts after he gave me a concussion." Vize said.

"Sounds like fair payback." Slippy said, laughing along with the rest.

Rob's voice came over the com, "We are nearing Titania."

Falco joinedthe rest in the bridge a few minutes late. Rob mapped out a safe place to land the Great Fox and they had soon touched down. "All right, guys," Fox said to the others. "Get suited up for desert conditions and lets get going." After grabbing what they needed, Fox, Falco, Peppy, Slippy, and Vize headed into the desert in the direction of a nearby town.

A/N: Hope you enjoyed it. As you can see, I put in my theory on how the aparoids came into being. Please review!


	6. The Demon Cannon

THE DEMON CANNON

A/N: This is the final chapter. This is the disclaimer: I do not own Starfox or its characters. But I do own Vize, Priest, the raiders, and the Demon Cannon.

Fox, Falco, Slippy, Peppy and Vize entered a small town around noon. "Oh thank god! Finally, civilization," Vize said as they entered.

"There's a place to eat over there." Falco said, pointing to one of the larger buildings.

The five of them entered the eatery, sat at the bar and ordered drinks. "Okay, we know that Priest is on this planet, we just don't know where." Fox said.

"Maybe one of us should search the surrounding desert for him." Slippy suggested.

"But who?" Peppy asked.

"I'll go" said Vize.

"All right. Contact us once you find Priest." Fox said.

Vize had been exploring the dunes of Titania for two hours before he reached the ancient ruins of the desert planet. He reached the top of the last dune and not only saw the ruins, but he saw the entire raider force. "Whoa!" Vize exclaimed as he dropped down and looked over the dune with his binoculars. He saw that the raiders were either constructing or repairing a huge black cannon. Vize turned on his communicator and contacted Fox and the rest of the crew. "Guys, you read me?" asked Vize

Fox's voice replied, "Loud and clear. You find Priest, I take it?"

"Him and what he needed those parts for."

"What is it?" Falco asked.

"You'll have to see for yourself. Get here ASAP."

"We'll be there shortly." Peppy said.

Two hours later, Fox, Falco, Slippy, and Peppy joined Vize behind the dune and Fox looked through the binoculars and saw the cannon. "How did something like that get here?" Fox asked the rest.

"Well, there were reports that Andross was constructing some kind of weapon here." Peppy said.

"We'll just have to go with that explanation." Slippy said.

Just then, one of Slippy's gadgets detected an energy spike. "What the? I think the cannon is powering up." Slippy said.

He was right. The cannon charged a large amount of power and fired. The blast headed off into space and made contact with a planet, Cerenia.

On Cerinia, all hell was breaking loose. The shot from the cannon had pierced the surface and struck the core. Earthquakes started a few seconds after it hit. Previously dormant volcanoes erupted and engulfed smaller villages in fire. The sky turned red and the ground split. Only a single ship escaped the planet. It carried a single occupant far from Cerenia before the planet exploded.

Back on Titania, the Starfox team was silent. Fox was the first to speak, "ROB, which planet was hit?"

The monotone voice of ROB64 replied, "The planet was Cerinia. There is now no sign of the planet."

"Holy crap." Falco whispered.

"The cannon wasn't even at full power." Slippy said.

"It destroyed a planet with a test fire?" Fox asked.

ROB's voice came through the com, "Fox, Pepper has contacted the Great Fox, I am switching him over to you."

The image of General Pepper appeared on the communicator on Fox's forearm.

"Fox, I'm guessing you and your team saw what just happened." Pepper said.

"General," Fox began, "I think every intelligent being in the Lylat System saw it."

"Fox, I want you and your team to disable or destroy that cannon. Also, kill Priest."

"Understood, sir."

"Good luck. Pepper out."

Fox looked at his teammates. "Vize, are you good at sniping?" Fox asked the Vezier.

"I'm a decent shot." Vize replied.

"Okay. Then stay here and pick off as many as you can before moving into the ruins. The rest of us will spread out around the ruins and work our way to the cannon."

"Sounds like a good plan, Fox." Falco said.

Vize stayed at the dune while Fox and Falco headed to the right and Peppy and Slippy headed to the left. He fitted a scope to the rifle he had picked up at the arms deal. He looked through the scope and soon spotted two raider guards, a weasel and a mongoose. He grinned and fired. The mongoose's head exploded. Before the weasel could react, a bullet went straight through his heart. Vize then spotted several fuel tanks at the base of a pillar. He flipped on his com. "Fox, I've spotted a small stash of fuel tanks. Just say the word and I'll shoot em."

"No need. Peppy put a remote mine on one of em. Just keep shooting the raiders."

"Roger that, Vize out." Vize turned off his com and continued to sweep the ruins from his position.

Fox and Falco made their way across the right side of the ruins. The two of them soon found themselves at the area the cannon was at. Priest had just sent the guards around him to look for the two that Vize had killed. Fox and Falco stepped out of the shadow of a pillar. Priest looked around at them. "Fox. Falco. I was hoping you'd be here to witness the completion of this extraordinary weapon, the Demon Cannon."

"Just how did this get here?" Fox asked, wanting answers.

"It was under construction during the final months of the war between Corneria and Venom. I'm merely picking up where Andross's engineers left off." Priest said.

"We suspected something like that." Falco said. "Fox, lets finish this clown."

"Yeah." Fox said, drawing his blaster.

Before either could fire a shot, the squirrel before them disappeared and reappeared on top of a nearby building. "You'll find finishing me off will prove difficult." Priest said.

"A portable DTS(Dimension Transport System)." Fox said, recognizing the technology from his battle with the Gorgon.

"Yes. Unfortunately, its range is limited. I suspect my men shall be returning now" Priest said to Fox and Falco.

Fox and Falco saw that he was right. A large number of heavily armed raiders were headed their way. Fox signaled to Peppy and Slippy who were about 30 meters away. Slippy detonated the explosives on the fuel tanks. The explosion destroyed the pillar's base, causing it to fall and crush twenty of the raiders. Three more fell to shots from Vize. The rest spread out and started firing on Fox and Falco. Slippy and Peppy joined them a few seconds later. Behind them, Priest was setting new firing coordinates into the Demon Cannon. Fox looked behind, but was too late to stop Priest, who nimbly jumped out of Fox's reach. "You'll find," began Priest, looking down from the roof he jumped to, "that the cannon is set to fire on the planet Katina. Once the rest of the system sees the power of this glorious weapon, every planet will be forced to bow to us. Andross's dream WILL be realized."

"So, thats it." Fox said. "Your one of Andross's followers. A very loyal one too."

"Thats right. We all are."

"Looks like we are stopping Andross's crazy plan once again." Flaco said, sounding annoyed.

"We'll see about that. Kill them." Priest gestured to his soldiers.

About a mile away, Vize was watching the whole scene through his scope. Seeing that Fox and the others were now in danger, he took the scope off, slammed a fresh clip into his rifle and started running toward the ruins.

At the cannon site, Fox and the rest of the team were pinned down by weapons fire. "Slippy!" Fox shouted, "any luck?"

"Nothing yet, Fox." Slippy called back. "Hey Peppy, care to lend a hand?"

"I'll be right there." Peppy said. He then dived to one side, rose to a crouch and quickly made his way over to Slippy. "What do you need me to do?"

Slippy tossed a grenade before giving his instructions. "I need you to remove the main panel behind the control terminal, then wait for my instructions."

While Slippy and Peppy were working Fox and Falco were keeping the raiders at bay. Fox was knocked back when a large wolf charged him. The wolf was about to blow Fox's brains out when the sound of a new weapon was heard and the wolf fell over, dead from a head shot. Behind him was Vize, holding his large blaster.

"Thanks." Fox said, pushing himself up. "What kind of blaster is that?"

"Magnum class." Vize said.

"Thought so. The sound was familiar."

"Its loud, but it has an optional silencing feature." said Vize blasting a lizard through the chest.

Fox and Vize rejoined Falco and killed the raiders about to overtake him. "Nice to see you decided to drop by." Falco said to Vize.

"I can't let you guys have all the fun." Vize said, throwing a grenade.

"Hey guys." Slippy said. "We got about ten minutes before this thing fires."

"Can you stop it in time?" Fox asked.

"Can you keep those guys off me?" Slippy asked, pointing at the raiders.

"No problem." Falco said.

"I'm goin after Priest" Vize said.

"Then get movin and waste him." Falco said.

Vize climbed onto the building Priest was on. "This is where it ends, Priest."

"And a fitting end it will be. Lets move to a different location." Priest said, activating his DTS and reappearing on a large tower. Vize followed, jumping from roof to roof and eventually climbing onto the tower. Having left his rifle with Fox, he holstered his blaster and drew his sword. Priest did the same. "So this is how we end this," said Priest. "The saint versus the sinner."

"As you said 'a fitting end'. But enough chatting, lets get to this." Vize said.

Vize was the first to strike. He slashed Priest's side, but instead of blood leaking out, sparks flew. Vize had damaged the DTS Priest had clipped to his waist. Enraged, Priest quickly struck three times and each ended in a shower of sparks as the two blades met.

Meanwhile, at the cannon site, things weren't going as planned. Fox and Falco had set up a field of Claymore mines. There were random explosions as the raiders stepped on them. Fox turned to look at the cannon. "Hey Slippy! Any luck?"

"We're gettin somewhere. Oh, and we have 3 minutes." Slippy said.

"Well thats just great." said Falco, the sarcasm plain in his voice.

"I think I got it." Slippy said. After feverish typing, there was an odd noise and Slippy's eyes widened.

"I'm guessing thats not good." Fox said, shooting a rat through the eye.

"I think I overloaded it." Slippy said.

"Shouldn't we be hiding?" Peppy asked.

"Yeah. Lets do that." Fox said.

The four of them each found a secure place to hide as the noise got louder. Once three minutes had paced, the cannon, instead of firing, imploded. The blast killed the raiders around the cannon. The main barrel of the cannon blew off and the debris killed more raiders. From atop the tower structure, Priest saw the blast and ran to the edge. "Impossible!" Priest shouted. "Months of planning and work gone! However, I can still finish the problem before me." He turned in time to block Vize's sword from taking his head off. Both fighters had there share of wounds from the battle and they continued to fight until Priest knocked Vize's blade from his hand and it flew off the tower. Vize kicked Priest and skirted behind him. "How do you propose to beat me?" Priest asked. "You have no sword with which to defend yourself."

"You forget something." Vize said to the squirrel's back as he reached up his sleeve.

"And what would that be?" Priest asked, turing around.

Vize whipped out a knife and stabbed Priest in the middle of his chest before he could do anything to stop him. "I always carry two blades."

"It...seems...that I...had, indeed,...forgotten." Were the only words that Priest said before he fell from the tower. There was a loud crack when Priest's body hit the ground below.

A few minutes later, Fox, Falco, Peppy and Slippy had reached the tower just as Vize was jumping the last few feet. Fox saw Priest's body and walked over to it. "It looks like he broke his neck when he landed." Fox said.

"Well at least he's dead." Vize said, walking over and pulling his knife out. "What happened to the Demon Cannon?"

"Slippy here overloaded it." Peppy said.

"Nice work." Vize said to Slippy, picking up his sword from were it had landed and sheathing it.

"It was no problem." Slippy said.

"Now that we're done, can we get back to the Great Fox?" Falco asked the others.

"Good idea." Fox said.

Two hours later, the Great Fox was orbiting Titania and the Starfox team was explaining what had happened to General Pepper. "So the cannon has been destroyed?" Pepper asked the assembled team.

"Thats right, sir." Peppy said.

"Well team, once again, you have averted a disaster. Your pay in being forwarded to your account as we speak. Pepper out." the image of General Pepper vanished from the screen.

"Another mission well done." Fox said, leaning back in his chair. "So Vize, what're you gonna do now?"

"Go on my way, I suppose. It was a great run, though." Vize said.

"That it was. Thanks for the help." Peppy said.

"Don't mention it." Vize said. "Bye, guys."

"See ya around." Falco said.

"Goodbye, Vize." Peppy said.

"Bye, Vize." Slippy said.

"See ya, Vize." Fox said.

A short time later, a small fighter craft left the hanger of the Great Fox. As Vize flew away, he looked back at the quickly retreating desert planet. "Saints and sinners," Vize said, "are they really that different?"


End file.
